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Having analyzed the signifiers of the advertisement in the first order system, I find out that the signification of the advertisement is a perfume for high class men.
3.2 The Second Order System of Fan di Fendi Advertisement
Traditionally, there are certain gender roles for men and women. A man has always been known as someone who is dominant, masculine, and independent; on
the other hand, a woman is seen as someone who is weak, sensitive, and dependent Basow, 1986, as cited in McKay, 2013. He also mentions that gender
roles are the evaluation of behaviour masculine or feminine conducted by society. Masculinity is associated with competence, instrumentality, and activity;
men should be strong, rational and aggressive. Meanwhile, femininity is associated with warmth, expressiveness and nurturance; women are socialized to
be weak, emotionally submissive, passive, easily influenced, and gentle. Based on this thinking, female objectification is born.
This perception has been en grossed in the people’s mind since a long time
ago so it is not easy to change this particular perception overnight. Despite the fact Figure 3.1.10 Fan di Fendi Text
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that women’s right movement has been established since the nineteenth century, female objectification and self-objectification are still there until now.
I will continue my analysis to the second order system which will be based on the female objectification theory. There is one major concept which evokes from
this advertisement and that is objectification of women; women are seen as objects.
In the advertisement we see a man and a woman sitting in a car while being chased by paparazzis. We know that the man’s gaze is directed to the readers not
the woman. The man is basically ignoring the presence of the woman and papar
azzis. When someone sees ‘eye to eye’ with another person, a real communication can be established Barbara and Pease, 2004. If a communication
happens, that means someone is interested in you. In fact, in this advertisement there is an absence of eye-contact between the two models. Consequently, the
absence of eye-contact with the woman indicates that the man is not interested in the woman.
The act of ignoring can also be seen from the position of both of his hands which are actually not doing anything. They do not convey anything, neither
sexual nor interest. His hands are just there and the woman is the one who throws herself at him. Besides the position of the man
’s hands, the position of his body can also be an act of ignoring the woman. According to Elizabeth Narins, the
editor of cosmopolitan magazine website, if a man is interested in a woman, he will lean towards the woman Narins, 2015. In the advertisement, we notice that
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the man is sitting straight not leaning to the woman. However, although he ignores both the woman and the paparazzis, his charm draws them to him anyway.
Thus, I believe the man is doing one of the five features of objectification as said by Nussbaum. Nussbaum says that when a person’s feelings are not taken
into account, it means he is doing denial of subjectivity. The picture shows exactly that. To the man, the woman is not important.
From the advertisement, the woman can be seen as submitting herself to the man and also trying to get his attention from her gesture and the way she looks.
From the gesture of her body, she tilts her head sideways towards one shoulder, exposing her bare neck. According to Dr. Albert Scheflen, one of the attraction
processes that a woman does when she wants to attract a man is preening. Preening is tilting her head and exposing her bare neck Scheflen. This is
supported by Allan and Barbara Pease in their book The Definitive Book of Body Language
that women use this tilting head’s gesture to show interest in men and submission. A submissive woman looks attractive in a man’s eyes. The example
of this gesture can be seen fro m Marilyn Monroe’s pose in fig.3.2.2 Pease
Pease, 2004. This gest ure is considered a sexual gesture as it is said, “Lowering
the eyeslids… and slightly parting the lips is a cluster that has been used by women for centuries to show sexual submissiveness” Pease Pease, 2004, p.
174. Furthermore, the way the woman ’s finger stretches out is also sexual. She
stretches her index finger out to him and softly touches his chest. Chest is considered to be an erogenous zone of man Gueren, 2013. The fact that chest is
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an erogenous zone of man clearly shows that the woman is trying to seduce the man. She is making a sexual move to the man.
From the woman ’s looks, she can be said as a sexy woman. Samantha Daniels,
a well-known professional matchmaking and dating expert, says in her article in The Huffington Post that men love sexy women Daniels, 2015. As the woman
wants to attract the man, she makes herself look sexy. She uses sexy look to charm him. The sexiness in her can be seen from her hair, her face, and her dress.
First, she has collarbone hair length which means she has long hair. Based on hairfinder website, anything that below shoulder length is considered to be long
hair Hair Lengths. According to Cooper 1971, as cited in Synott, 1993, p. 105, Figure 3.2.1 Lowering Eye and Parting Lips Kripss, 2012
Figure 3.2.2 Marilyn Monroe’s pose Staff, 2014
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men prefer women with long hair because it is sexier. Hence, I conclude that she has long hair as she wants to look attractive to the man.
Second, she is considered young as she does not have any wrinkles. The Huffington Post mentions that men prefer young women. Miriam Lowe also states
that when women reach forty, their sexuality end so they cannot be viewed as sexy Lowe, 2007. Hence, as she does not have wrinkles, she looks sexy.
Third, she wears one shoulder evening dress fig. 3.2.3. Nicoleta Parascan, who is the author of Fashionising website; a website about fashion, mentions that
exposing the shoulders is the new definition of sexy. She also says that the off- shoulder or one-shoulder clothing definitely fits for a sexy night-out and give a
chic feeling and sexy interpretation Parascan.
“Evening dress draws attention to a woman’s body and serves to define her gender, establishing her as an object to be gazed upon
by her audience” Hegland, para.9. Moreover, men love to see a bit of shoulder which is considered as a very
sexy area of a woman Reed, 2013. Hence, all the findings are showing sexual submissiveness of the woman to the man and the way she tries to get his attention
Figure 3.2.3 One-Shoulder Clothing Juliana, 2012
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by using her sexiness. Thus, the woman in the advertisement clearly shows self- objectification. The reasons are as follows:
First is her gesture. As mentioned before, the woman objectifies herself as a sexual object as seen from her gesture. Her gesture is showing that she is making
a sexual move on the man. She is lowering her eyes, parting her lips, and tilting her head. It has been said that making those moves is the same as making a sexual
submissiveness Pease Pease, 2004. In other words, she makes herself a sexual object of the man. This is supported by the self-objectification theory in Chapter
Two, that women are sexually objectified and treated as an object by men Fredrickson Roberts, 1997, as cited in Szymanski, Moffitt, and Carr, 2011.
Moreover, women have been conditioned to view themselves through the perspective of an observer Calogero, 2013, as cited in McKay, 2013.
The advertisement shows the woman preening at the man despite her being ignored by the man. The condition of being ignored is what we call being treated
as an object by men. Therefore, as it is said that women have been conditioned to view themselves through the observer’s perspective, the woman in the
advertisement sees herself through the perspective of men, which is an object. In other words, she thinks herself as an object too. Hence, by lowering her eyes and
parting her lips which are considered sexy and which men like, she is practising self-objectification.
Second is her dress. The woman is wearing a one shoulder evening dress exposing her shoulder. This kind of clothing is what men love to see in a woman
as she looks sexy in it. Women tend to please men and want to be desirable
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Bartky, as cited in Szymanski, Moffitt, and Carr, 2011. It is mentioned before by Jane E. Hegland that an evening dress draws attention to a woman’s body, and is
establishing her as an object to be gazed upon by her audience Hegland. So, wearing revealing clothing to emphasize their body parts as a decoration is
something that women do to attract men. This is also part of self-objectification. Third is the way the woman looks, especially her hair and her face. She has
long hair which is according to Anthony Synnott, is considered sexually attractive to men Synnott, 1993. Naturally, women want to have the appearance which can
attract men’s attention. It is mentioned in the first order system that men find women with long hair sexy. In short, men prefer women with long hair as it is
sexier. With the woman in the advertisement having long hair, she actually objectifies herself because she wants to attract the man
in accordance with men’s preferences. It is supported in Chapter Two, that women are encouraged to
accommodate male needs Sanchez Broccoli, The romance of self- objectification: Does priming romantic relationships induce states of self
objectification. Thus, having long hair in this advertisement shows self- objectification.
The model also has wrinkle- free skin. A woman’s body is seen as an
ornamented surface. Women also see themselves as men’s ideal. Men prefer a woman who has hairless wrinkle-free skin. Men consider such a woman sexy. In
the advertisement, we can see that the woman has hairless wrinkle-free skin. Thus, she has objectified herself when she has made herself a sexually attractive object
for men. She makes herself look the way men love. She is degrading herself. As
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mentioned in the self-objectification theory that women develop a male authority so they must model themselves in the ideal of a woman as defined by men.
Therefore, the advertisement may lead to self-objectification if it is seen through the woman.
Furthermore, on the previous discussion about the position of the model, it is said that the woman is placed on the left side which represents something that the
viewers have already known. Thus, the fact that it is not new can make people overlook the information. Basically, the left side or the woman can be said to be
not as important as the right side or the man. This is also part of objectification. The advertisement of Fan di Fendi Fragrance shows female objectification.
The fact that the woman in the advertisement is made to look cheap, it has already led to the female objectification. This is mentioned in Chapter Two, that female
objectification can happen because objectification that is done by men to women and to women by themselves.
Therefore, all the signifiers above support the second concept of the connotative meanings. The concept is female objectification. It can be seen from
the male and the woman. First, the man ignores the presence of the woman. Second, the woman makes her body as an object to ful
fill men’s desire when she makes sexual gestures such as stretching her index finger out to softly touch the
man’s chest, and tilting her head. Chest is considered to be erogenous zone of man. Hence, she is actually making a sexual move to the man. Moreover, she is also
partly closing her eyes and opening her lips. Third, the woman makes herself a tool for men’s pleasure when she tries to be sexually attractive to men by wearing
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one shoulder dressshirt which exposes her shoulder. Fourth, the woman also mak
es herself an object because she has fulfilled men’s desire when she is considered sexually attractive by having physical appearance that is considered
ideal for men such as having long hair, and a wrinkle-free face. Fifth, the fact the woman is placed on the left which is less important than the man.
The relation between the denotative meaning and the connotative meaning can be seen from the chart below:
DENOTATIVE SIGNIFIER DENOTATIVE
SIGNIFIED
The concept of high class
DENOTATIVE SIGN CONNOTATIVE SIGNIFIER
The concept of high class CONNOTATIVE
SIGNIFIED
Female objectification
The denotative signifier is the picture of the advertisement while the denotative signified is high class. The denotative sign is formed from the
denotative signifier and signified. This sign becomes the connotative signifier and Figure 3.2.4 Barthes Chart of Fan di Fendi Advertisement
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leads the connotative signified. The concept that is evoked from it is female objectification.
When the man objectifies the woman and the woman makes sexual gestures to attract man’s attention, they are actually showing female objectification. The
reason is he considers the woman to be not important. The other reason is she is closing her eyes, parting her lips, tilting her head, and exposing her body towards
the man. Those are the things that are used to make sexual advances to men. Furthermore, when the woman is considered sexy, she has made a sexually
attractive object for men.
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3.3 The First Order System of Versace Advertisement
